A Loving Home
by shrimpette
Summary: "I don't like it when you're dead," Sasuke complained, glaring at the body lying next to him. The blonde had a bruised neck, and his eyes were clouded. Sasuke narrowed his, hearing a light bulb explode. "Happy anniversary," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. /MxM, Poltergeist!Naruto, Medium!Sasuke, AU
1. Prologue

"I don't like it when you're dead," Sasuke complained, glaring at the body lying next to him. The blonde had a bruised neck, and his eyes were clouded. Sasuke narrowed his, hearing a light bulb explode. "Happy anniversary," he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

Living with a poltergeist was rather tiring. But, on the other hand, he didn't have to worry about burglars, fire or any other thing that could happen to his flat. The ghost was attached to it, and he wouldn't let anything damage it. And Sasuke had already solved the issue of his territoriality. Now he was treated as a part of the flat. And that made him untouchable to anything but the poltergeist himself.

The body finally disappeared. Naruto liked being dramatic. And it seemed that he had a compulsive need to replay his death every once in a while. And today was its anniversary. Sasuke knew he would have to suffer through all of it. He heard a door being slammed with full force, and then came the screams and the heated argument.

Naruto had been murdered by his boyfriend, strangled by him. Apparently things have gotten out of hand. Naruto's ex pleaded guilty, never trying to escape the responsibility. And he was already walking free again. It was funny how the time went. Sasuke was supposed to exorcize Naruto but the ghost was rather stubborn.

And he wasn't so bad. Even when Sasuke had been trying to exorcize him, he had never done anything truly hurtful. Glass was exploding far away from Sasuke, and radiators were blowing hot water just for show. One time, he had shown Sasuke his mother. He had never done it again. On the next day, Sasuke woke up to an awfully sweet coffee. A peace offer. He had accepted it.

And the landlady agreed to rent Sasuke the apartment. He didn't mind it being haunted. Actually, he preferred it that way. Sometimes, it was fun. Naruto was quite powerful for a poltergeist, he could move every single object, juggle them, make them levitate. Sasuke believed that his own body probably also wasn't untouchable but Naruto had never tried to touch it. That was probably why they worked. They respected their boundaries.

Communicating with Naruto was quite difficult. The ghost was able to show himself every once in a while but it was just replaying things from his past. Nothing new could be added. So Naruto had to use other means of communication. Like writing. And it was rather obvious that he wasn't patient enough to write too much.

Sasuke had offered him to become his hand a couple of times but Naruto didn't want to. Sasuke accepted that. He never liked automatic writing anyway.

"I can't stay here with you today," he whispered. The argument in the kitchen came to a halt. Sasuke sat up on the bed. He had been rather anxious about informing Naruto about that little fact. And it seemed that he had been right to be anxious. He heard something shattering. It was probably his mug. Naruto wouldn't destroy his own things. "I have to pay for this place, Naruto."

A radio started playing. It was a song filled with curse words.

"Very creative," Sasuke said. "I'll be back by evening, you can show it to me then-"

He stopped mid-sentence as the song became even louder. Sasuke let out a heavy sigh. It wasn't as if he wanted to go out _today_. He knew that it was important to Naruto.

"That other ghost shows up just once a year. I have to deal with it today. And it's pretty violent. I have to do it."

He shuddered as a drop of cold water fell on his nose. He looked up to see the ceiling completely flooded, threatening with spilling water all over the bed. Well, that was something new.

"I've saved all of your stuff when your ex wanted to take them. I had to pay him, and now I'm tight on cash. Be reasonable."

The ceiling dried instantly.

"When are you coming back?"

Sasuke smiled. He liked Naruto's voice, and he regretted that he couldn't hear it more often. His biggest regret was that he would never hear the man talking to _him_. Sometimes, he wondered how would his name sound.

"As soon as I can. I did my research so I'll probably be done with it by the evening. I'll watch you then. And I can rent us a movie for the rest of the night," he offered.

"Horror?"

Sasuke chuckled, covering his eyes with his forearm.

"Sure," he agreed. His other friends thought him to be crazy. And no-one wanted to come visit him. Sasuke believed that they just thought that acknowledging the fact that he was dating a poltergeist would make it even weirder. Perhaps he _was_ crazy, and it _was_ weird. He didn't care.

"I love you."

"Me, too," he replied, trying to forget that the words weren't originally intended for him. None of it was originally for him. It was a borrowed flat, a borrowed life, and a borrowed love. And it was still the closest he had ever came to having ones of his own.

* * *

**A/N: Ah, so.**  
**At first I thought it will be just a one shot but I'm not an assertive person, and I've got persuaded to continue this. Please, don't expect too much in the terms of plot from this one - I could create a conflict that would need some kind of resolution but I don't want to. I don't think it fits in here. This will be more like a series of one-shots, some loose scenes, minor issues, etc.**


	2. Blackout I

**A/N: So, here's the deal. At first I thought it would be a oneshot, then I thought it would be a series of oneshots, and now I've decided that it will be a series composed of smaller series XD I plan to make it somewhat similar to "Violets and Rainbows" when it comes to structure. So, this is the beginning of the first short series, I think it will be 3-4 chapters long, and chapters will be about 3k+ words long.**

**I hope that it's fine with you. Oh, and tell me what you think.**

* * *

Sasuke unlocked the door to his apartment, somewhat angry about the noise inside. It was almost midnight, and he knew he would have to explain himself to the neighbors again. They might demand sending in another medium to cleanse the flat, and Sasuke was well aware of the fact that his landlady's patience was slowly running out. Probably the only reason why she was putting up with it was that she was one of the very few people who still remembered Naruto from when he had been still alive.

Sasuke came in, eying the levitating objects which stopped in mid-air the moment he had entered the apartment.

"You're being too loud," he grunted, tossing his bag in the corner. The bag immediately flew up and got hung on a hook. Then a paper plane hit Sasuke right in the face.

_You're late, _it said.

"Not my fault," Sasuke replied. Naruto replayed Sasuke's voice promising that he would be home by the evening. "It was more complicated than I've anticipated it to," he explained, and sat on the couch in the living room. All the trinkets returned to their previous spots. Sometimes Sasuke regretted that he couldn't redecorate the flat. Naruto owned a ridiculous amount of ceramic frogs.

The spirit from today was a rather tough case. It was old, too old to remember who it used to be. And, since almost all of it's possessions were destroyed by the previous home owners - Sasuke still couldn't understand why people insisted on solving their ghost problems alone when they should be asking for professional help - it was too weak to act up more often than once a year. Sasuke had no idea why this particular date was so important to it - his research showed that the ghost could had been either a small girl who died on that day or it was a young man who was born then. Sasuke knew that the spirit was angry. It already severely injured a few people, and almost killed one of them.

Sasuke wasn't able to exorcize it. All he did was some basic damage control. The spirit didn't hurt anyone but now it was even more furious. It was bound to happen, seeing how people had stripped it of all of its power. It seemed that Sasuke wouldn't be able to spend the next anniversary with Naruto as well. Not that he wanted him to know about it now.

Naruto was probably already angry. His death was a rather loud one, so he wouldn't be able to replay it today.

"I have the movie," Sasuke said.

Naruto materialized in front of him, his arms crossed. He was dressed in one of those crazy 90s style tracksuits. Sasuke snorted unwillingly. Fashion sure moved forward since Naruto's death.

"Who dressed you like that?" Sasuke asked, resting his head on the palm of his hand, and smiling at the blonde. The man was pretty handsome. Even his ridiculous clothes couldn't hide it.

_That used to be very fashionable, you fucking snob, _a scribbling on the steamy balcony door said. The body was already gone.

"But you _had_ to know it was ugly," Sasuke replied. "Were you wearing it ironically?"

_Sorry I didn't die in an era that would suit your taste in clothes better._

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders in an unapologetic manner. His laptop opened, and he could see the ghost rummaging through his photos folder. It seemed that he finally found what he was looking for.

_And that's pretty damn ugly too._

"I was just a kid," Sasuke replied, staring at his younger self. He had to agree that the outfit was anything but stylish. "Sorry I didn't make it today. We can still celebrate, you'd just have to cut the noise down-"

Saying that probably wasn't a smart move. Electricity went out, and he was sitting in pitch black darkness. A glance through the balcony door told him that the same thing happened to their entire neighborhood.

"You did that?" Sasuke questioned, standing up, and approaching the window. Naruto's power seemed to only grow, and that was rather troubling. The building didn't belong to Sasuke, and the landlady could easily throw him out and call another medium. One, that would solve the problem, and not live with it. Sasuke sighed, resting his hands on the window sill.

Lights flickered, and the electricity returned.

"You can't do stuff like this," Sasuke complained. "You're bothering other people, and other people don't like you enough to put up with your shit-"

_Says Mr Popular, _words on glass said. Sasuke smiled at the window, and rested his head against it. It was pleasantly cold. When he straightened his neck again, he could see Naruto's reflection right next to his own. He turned his head, but the ghost was already gone.

The tv and the DVD player were on. The disc was loading, and soon the menu appeared. He reached for the remote controller to press play but the ghost was quicker. Well, Sasuke didn't really stand a chance. He had to actually move.

There were moments when Sasuke wondered whether Naruto didn't put up with him only out of convenience. After all, thanks to Sasuke the flat remained unchanged. And it was obvious that Sasuke was supplying the ghost with enough negative emotions to cause a city-wide black out. Sometimes, Sasuke believed that Naruto was getting much more out of this deal. The only downfall was that Sasuke could cleanse the apartment of spirits.

However, that was a long process. It needed a shitload of chanting (which Naruto decided to brand as _singing_, and Sasuke could swear that he was referring to it like that just to unnerve him), incense and seals. Naruto mocked the whole ritual relentlessly, calling it Sasuke's mumbo jumbo. He clearly believed himself to be immune to it.

On the other hand, he didn't like to talk about Sasuke's job too much. At first he was interested but he quickly stopped asking questions. Sasuke believed it had something to do with his success rate. It was probably way too high for Naruto's liking.

Sasuke watched the movie, snorting every now and then as the ghost tried to scare him in the cheapest way possible. It would probably work on other people though. Random noises, an incomprehensible voicemail that appeared on Sasuke's phone out of nowhere (Sasuke made a mental note to check whether there wasn't some study on ghosts and wireless networks; his internet was much slower than it should be), and, at one point, something heavy rested on his shoulders, making him hunch.

Sasuke shrugged. He didn't like being touched, even as a joke. It had to reach the ghost because the weight disappeared as soon as it had appeared. Something tapped him on the arm. He turned his head to see a mug filled with hot tea. He grabbed it, feeling its weight gradually setting in his hand. As if someone actually handed it to him.

Naruto did have an inexplicable need to pretend that he was as human as it was only possible. Sasuke couldn't see why but he kept on humoring him. It was pretty harmless.

"I've visited your grave today," he said. "Someone left you some flowers."

_They should've brought them here_, Naruto pointed out, this time through an opened Word file on Sasuke's computer.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. He didn't know any of Naruto's former friends. They weren't really interested in visiting a haunted flat. Naruto claimed that at first some people used to come but it seemed that they decided to let go of their dead friend. That was probably the healthiest thing to do.

Especially since most of them couldn't see or hear him. Dead Naruto was to them just a nuisance - flying objects, exploding light bulbs, and unexplained black outs. Sometimes a piece of writing that tended to freak them out.

_I'm here, not there_, the ghost added, starting a new paragraph.

"I know," Sasuke whispered. "That's why I'm here-"

_You're being cheesy._

"-and that was the last time I've tried being nice to you," Sasuke mused, pinching the bridge of his nose, and putting his empty tea mug on the table. Sometimes, he thought that Naruto really didn't care. Sometimes, he believed himself to be stupid for demanding a serious treatment from a ghost. They literally lived in their past. It was a miracle that Naruto was even able to incorporate anything new into his life.

_You suck at being nice._

"You too," Sasuke muttered, getting agitated for no reason. "I don't have to live in here, you know. I could just pay for this place, and leave you alone-"

He stopped mid-sentence, hearing the apartment door locking. The tv started snowing, and the audio got disrupted. He could hear it going backwards. The lights flickered, and the room temperature dropped.

"Locking me in here was a dick move," Sasuke grunted, fully aware of the fact that he wasn't _really_ trapped in there. Still, it was the intention that counted.

_It's not like I can chase you to the airport._

Sasuke shrugged, hearing the apartment door unlocking, and the bedroom one being slammed. It didn't even make sense, it wasn't as if Naruto left the room. He was always in every room. On the other hand, he really couldn't leave the apartment. He was the one being trapped in there. Sasuke got up from the couch, and headed towards the bedroom. Naruto's dead body was lying there, just like in the morning. Sasuke lay next to it, deciding against asking whether the blonde had any other memories with the bed. The last time he had done it, he had been graced with a porn show he didn't want to watch. Sasuke had to admit that he had probably walked right into it.

He poked the ghost's cheek, admiring how real it felt. If Sasuke was careful enough, he could feel the skin bending under his touch. And it had a temperature of its own. The image didn't correspond with his sensatory experiences but, after all, the image couldn't be changed. Sasuke's finger was partially buried in Naruto's face. Still, the level of manipulations Naruto was capable of was extraordinary.

"I'm not running away," he promised. They had that argument at least once a week. One time, Naruto compared himself to a dog not knowing whether their master would come back home. And it _was_ somewhat like that. Naruto had no way of knowing when Sasuke would return. Or if he would return.

At the beginning he had even suggested Sasuke to become a ghost as well, so they could _live together._ Sasuke had pointed out that it wouldn't be really _living _but the real issue was that it was pretty much impossible. Two ghosts couldn't haunt the same apartment. Especially when Sasuke had nothing that would bind him to that place. Knowing that Naruto wouldn't mind it if Sasuke was dead as long as it meant that they would stay together was rather disturbing. On the other hand, he too preferred Naruto dead. It solved many issues he used to have with his living partners. For instance, he didn't have to worry about him dying.

"You have to control yourself," Sasuke whispered after a longer pause. Naruto either didn't feel like replying or he didn't have a way to do so. "That blackout was too big-"

A crumpled piece of paper interrupted him, hitting him in forehead.

_I can't always control it. Sometimes it just happens._

Sasuke knitted his eyebrows, and bit the insides of his cheek. That wasn't good news. Neighbors would eat him alive at the next committee meeting. Also, what was even more worrying, he could expect that it would just get worse if Naruto wasn't able to control his mood swings. And, since he was usually mad at Sasuke, Sasuke would eventually become the target of his anger.

And that would be the end of their relationship. Unless Sasuke would leave him alone for a while. Naruto would get significantly weaker if he didn't have anyone he could feed on. But if Sasuke told him that he was leaving, Naruto would unleash hell. He was quite possessive. On the other hand, saying that he would come back soon and not doing that could end even worse.

"I'm going to sleep," Sasuke said. He would make up his mind later. He gasped in surprise as a toothpaste covered toothbrush entered his mouth. He grabbed it's handle, and took it out, suppressing a chuckle. "I'm not a slob," he stated. "I was going to get up, and take care of it."

An appropriate comment was awaiting him as he entered the bathroom.

_It's more fun this way._

* * *

Sasuke entered Karin's apartment, feeling quite ambivalent about it. On one hand, he was thankful because he had a place to stay. On the other, Karin was pretty feely-touchy. Sometimes, she would forget that Sasuke absolutely hated it.

The touch itself wasn't so bad, hell, Sasuke was certain that he would consider the feeling nice but, unfortunately, being a skilled medium meant being incapacitated when it came to living. And Sasuke was tired of seeing every worst moment - future and past - whenever he would touch someone. He already knew that Karin would die young. He knew how she would die. He had seen her mix her blood with too many people. And he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Why did you come here?" she asked, sitting on a kitchen chair. Sasuke stood near the cupboards, deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry. "I didn't invite you," she added in an angry tone, looking away and blushing.

"I had to leave Naruto alone for a while," he said, and her face hardened. Sasuke had no idea why everyone was having so much issues with the poltergeist. At least he _was_ living with someone. Although "living" was still a pretty bad term for that.

"You should forget about him," she muttered. "Not that I care about what happens to you-"

"I know," he agreed. Karin had quite a lot of issues with admitting that she could feel any affection towards people. That was probably the reason why she was usually single - against her will. Probably only Suigetsu was able to put up with her moods but even he needed some breaks. And sometimes it was her, who needed a break. Their relationship was generally unstable.

Nevertheless, they were his friends. The only ones he had ever had. And they helped him on more than one occasion. Karin was a sensor - much better than Sasuke. Suigetsu didn't have any special abilities but he liked the thrill. Juugo studied exorcisms all his life. All the chants Sasuke knew came from him. One time they almost lost their lives trying to seal up a demon. They failed, and it ended in a disaster. The demon destroyed a dam, what resulted in a flooded village and even more enraged spirits. That was the time they decided to stop working together. Karin and Juugo were completely devastated, and Suigetsu apparently stopped liking the thrill.

Sasuke would had stopped as well had he been able to. Unfortunately, there was nothing else he could do, and people were still asking him for help. His surname was a brand in itself. Even if his family was considered cursed.

"So," Karin mumbled out after a longer pause, "why did you leave him alone?"

"He's caused a blackout in the entire neighborhood," Sasuke admitted. The woman gasped at the news, approaching him. He stepped back, not letting her touch him. "It'll be fine, I just can't let him feed on me," he stated.

"You should get rid of him before it gets too late," she hissed. "I could call the squad, and we'd do it for you if you're too attached-"

"I'm not attached," Sasuke interrupted her. "It just _works_," he whispered. She reached out with her hand to comfort him but he evaded it. He didn't know if she was just constantly forgetting about it, believing that it was bearable or just ignoring his needs. He knew that the rest of his family didn't have this many issues with it. After all, they did reproduce. Perhaps they were able to block the unwanted visions. Sasuke wouldn't know.

"It works?" she snarled. "You're keeping a poltergeist in your apartment. A poltergeist, which is able to cut off electricity in an entire neighborhood. In what world does that work?"

"In mine," Sasuke snapped.

He had to admit that he wasn't acting rational. And that he _was_ attached to Naruto. The ghost was the reason he felt as if he had a home. There was always someone waiting for him, someone wanting him to come back. Ghosts were susceptible to mood swings. Sometimes, they would become violent over a trivial matter. They weren't able to hide their emotions. But, theoretically, they could hide their feelings. Sasuke felt ridiculous, hoping that he would in fact return to a devastated flat. It would show that the ghost cared more about him than his possessions. Even if it was the possessions that kept him in good shape.

"He might attack you, you know," she whispered, visibly flustered. She brushed a crumb of bread off her shorts. It seemed that she dressed up for Sasuke. Sasuke knew that she was usually parading in her pajama. She didn't have enough strength to do anything about it. Perhaps him moving in with her for a few days would make her feel better.

It was clear that the flat itself needed some cleaning as well. It wasn't messy but most of the things were dirty. She wasn't faring too well on her own. Sasuke could use some physical work as well. Naruto was the one who kept their apartment clean, and Sasuke was mostly dealing with the supernatural phenomena. Scrubbing a floor clean would be a nice change.

"He won't attack me," he replied. He knew that the ghost wouldn't attack him on purpose but it was possible that he would get hurt because of Naruto. He wasn't controlling himself anymore. "It's going to be just you and me for the next few days," he stated, trying to change the topic. "We should go grocery shopping, I should at least try to repay you for your hospitality with a homemade meal," he offered. He had noticed that Karin hadn't been eating too healthily for quite some time. The trashcan was filled with instant noodles cups and some cans.

"Whatever," the woman grunted, a heavy blush on her face. "If you want to get yourself killed then it's none of my business," she mumbled under her breath. Sasuke stared at her without saying a word. She probably needed a poltergeist of her own.


End file.
